Professor of Surgery knighted in New Year’s Honours

A former President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Professor Williams is a consultant colorectal surgeon and a leader in the field of bowel disorders. He is Professor of Surgery and Director of Innovation at QMUL’s Academic Surgical Unit, part of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Professor Williams qualified from the School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1970 and trained in London, Bristol, Leeds and Los Angeles. He has raised more than £18m in research grants and published works that influenced the NHS pathways for surgical resection of rectal cancer across the country.

He commented: “I feel very humbled yet proud to have received this honour. However I am conscious that I could never have achieved the distinction without the support of numerous colleagues at Queen Mary, Barts Health and the Royal College of Surgeons of England not to mention my family. In particular I would very much like to thank the team in the National Centre for Bowel Research and Surgical Innovation here at the School of Medicine and Dentistry for their tremendous hard work in bringing many of my ideas and concepts to fruition over the years. It has been a privilege to have worked with such a wonderful group of people.”

Professor Williams’ main clinical interests are sphincter preservation and reconstructive colorectal surgery, and his scientific interests are concentrated on GI motility and anorectal physiology. He is joint editor of Bailey and Love’s Short Practice of Surgery, co-author of Surgery of the Anus, Rectum and Colon and is a trustee of Bowel & Cancer Research. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal College of Physicians of London and Edinburgh and the Royal College of Anaesthetists.